Couple might or might not be insured. Massive heart attack on ship

[GeezerCouple]

20 minutes ago, Ashland said:

Would this have been the case where cruiseline insurance would have paid for the onboard costs? Then a 3rd party take over payment once off ship?

 

15 minutes ago, Ashland said:

I'm getting so totally confused now with all these medical incidents.

Does it make sense to have onboard cruiseline insurance to cover any onboard costs in addition to my GeoBlue Trekker annual policy that will cover us once off ship?

 

Good questions!

 

One should DEFINITELY ask about this when deciding whether to get cruiseline insurance if this is important!

 

I do remember reading (and please keep in mind, reports on the internet are simply keys clicked by anonymous others, etc. - and yes, that includes me) that the ship bill had to be cleared before leaving and that *did* include medical expenses.

The explanation given was that the ship needs to clear the books from the most recent cruise, and send that info to HQ or similar.

And then start over for the next cruise.

 

We prefer to keep any insurance totally separate from any entity that might be involved, be it causal or remedial or whatever.  (I understand that the cruiseline insurance apparently contracts with some third party insurer, but *we* would prefer to be making that decision, etc.)

 

Note also that some (many?) third party insurers will help with payments during extreme situations, but do check about any vendor you might use.  That is, they can guarantee payment (might be acceptable) or wire some money up front, etc., when circumstances warrant.  However, that would involve a delay.  We'd much rather just hand over credit card(s) and avoid any interruption in care due to financial issues.  (Or we could hand over the cards, and while care is started, get in touch with insurer and have their help take over at some point if expenses get high.

 

We also work with Steve at www.TripInsuranceStore.com and have asked for his assistance from overseas when I was in hospital.  It was a complicated situation about how to have the final week of our trip instead of heading home early, which would have been covered by insurance.  But we were near that final resort on Lake Como 🙂  and the problem was how to get there.  (I was not well enough to take the assorted taxis, trains, and ferries that we had planned.)  It all worked out very well, and I continued to recuperate on the shores of Lake Como.  I strongly recommend that therapeutic approach! 😁

 

GC

[Baron Barracuda]

After coming down with flu aboard ship 20 years ago and getting stuck with $1k bill we've taken travel insurance ever since.  CC has a great travel insurance forum with lots of helpful info.  With travel insurance (as with all insurance) the devil is in the details and identical sounding coverages often aren't.  That's why rely on Insuremytrip.com and the Travelinsurancestore.  Travel insurance is what they do for a living so they can easily cite differences between policies.  Two key items are whether healthcare coverage is primary (they pay first) or secondary (you pay and then apply for reimbursement) and if evacuation occurs who decides where care is administered and how transportation is arranged.  

[Hlitner]

On 6/6/2024 at 2:30 PM, Ashland said:

Would a GeoBlue policy have covered this>

Absolutely, as long as the patient (or their representative) submits a properly completed claim form with the necessary back-up.  I say this having filed two GeoBlue claims (one was quite substantial).

 

By the way, as others have mentioned, there is no way to estimate the cost of the various parts of the OP's care.  Treating a major MI (heart attack) can be quite costly and the cost of medical evacuation from Barbados to Miami can be huge (especially if there was a chartered air ambulance).   

 

Who pays what will depend on the insurance policy(s), what policy is primary, whether there must be coordination of claims between more than one insurance company, etc.  

 

The OP might also want to check the credit card they used to pay for the cruise as some cards (such as Chase Sapphire or some AMEX cards) do provide some coverage (my Chase card covers up to $20,000 plus some evacuation).  

 

The OP should also be talking to their insurance company ASAP, as some policies have various time requirements regarding when they must be notified and a claim filed.

 

Hank